Winter World The Ingenuity Of Animal Survival

In "Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival, biologist, illustrator, and award-winning author Bernd Heinrich explores his local woods, where he delights in the seemingly infinite feats of animal inventiveness he discovers. From flying hot-blooded squirrels and diminutive kinglets to sleeping black bears and frozen insects, the animal kingdom relies on some staggering evolutionary innovations to survive winter. Some develop antifreeze; others must remain in constant motion to maintain their high body temperatures. Even if animals can avoid freezing to death, they must still manage to find food in a time of scarcity, or store it from a time of plenty.

Beautifully illustrated throughout with the author's delicate drawings and infused by his inexhaustible enchantment with nature, ""Winter World awakens the wonders and mysteries by which nature sustains itself through winter's harsh, cruel exigencies.

Questions for Discussion Throughout "Winter World, Jack London's story, "To Build a Fire," which is about a foolish man in winter, is used as a backdrop for adaptations numerous animals have made. Why do you think the author returns to this story so often? What does it say about the superiority of humans to animals?
Beavers can live under ice for up to six months. While hibernating, bears mysteriously suffer no bone or muscle loss, and do not need water. Kinglet pairs simultaneously raise two broods of eight to ten young each. Chipmunks build a 12-foot burrow system. Turtles can live up to a year without food. Nutcrackers collect as many as 30,000 pine seeds for storage in caches up to 15 kilometers away from each other -- and remember where to find 80percent of them. Which animal described in "Winter World impresses you the most for its ability to survive winter? Why?
Discuss the drive certain people have to forgo the comforts of the modern world in order to get closer to nature. Could you see yourself as one of those people? Would you be able to live in a primitive cabin in Maine in the winter like the author does?
"Scientific discoveries, like most surprises, come by luck, and luck comes by keeping moving and having a keen nose to detect anomalies." The author makes some of his most profound discoveries this way. Is it luck or is it persistence coupled with the ability to see and decipher? Have you ever discovered something by luck? What was it?
Heinrich's father sold fleas to the Rothschilds and periodically set mice free in his house to demonstrate his pet weasel's hunting ability to guests. What do you imagine their day-to-day life or dinner conversation was like? How do you think it influenced the author? What does the author reveal about his home life now as an adult?
Hibernation and other winter adaptations may offer insight into numerous human medical matters, including stroke, aging, space flight, and osteoporosis. Heinrich strongly believes that research should be pure, out of intellectual curiosity, not conducted for applied purposes. Do you agree with him? Why or why not? Are these two concepts diametrically opposed?
Heinrich has an extremely high tolerance for infestations -- the carpenter ants that for years threatened to destroy his house and thousands of ladybugs that would try to crawl into his family's eyes at night. Is this taking a respect for nature too far? Could you live with thesepests? What is the worst infestation you can imagine or have heard of?
We learn that coagulated hardened bird spit is considered a delicacy in some Asian cultures. What are some other surprising things people eat?

About the Author

Bernd Heinrich is the author of "Mind of the Raven, which won the John Burroughs Medal for Natural History Writing and was a "New York Times and "Los Angeles Times Notable Book as well as a finalist for the "Los Angeles Times Science and Technology Award. He is also the author of "Bumblebee Economics, which was nominated for the National Book Award, and "The Trees in My Forest, which won a New England Book Award. A professor of biology at the University of Vermont, Heinrich also spends time in the forests of western Maine, where he has done much of his field research and training for ultramarathons.

Because winter drastically affects the mostelemental component of all life -- water -- radical changes in a creature's physiology and behavior must take place to match the demands of the environment. Some creatures survive by developing antifreeze; others must remain in constant motion to maintain their high body temperatures. Even if animals can avoid freezing to death, they must still manage to find food in a time of scarcity, or store it from a time of plenty.

Beautifully illustrated throughout with the author's delicate drawings and infused by his inexhaustible enchantment with nature, Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival awakens thewonders and mysteries by which nature sustains herself through winter's harsh, cruel exigencies.